Nurse Called Torture Leader

July 31, 2002|By Madeline BarM-s Diaz Miami Bureau

Miami — Eriberto Mederos, accused of torturing political prisoners in a hospital in Cuba, was alternately characterized during closing arguments in his trial Tuesday as a willing enforcer of an authoritarian regime and as a nurse simply following orders.

Mederos, who former political prisoners have identified as the nurse who applied electroshock treatments to them at the Mazorra psychiatric facility in Cuba, is charged with lying to obtain U.S. citizenship in 1993. Federal prosecutors allege that Mederos, 79, lied about being part of the Communist Party in Cuba and about persecuting people for their beliefs. As a result, he did not meet the "good moral character" requirement for U.S. citizenship, they say.

Jurors deliberated for two hours and will resume deliberations this morning.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Tamen described Mederos as part of Cuba's totalitarian regime. When security forces were unable to break down people they considered counterrevolutionaries, they would send them to Mederos, Tamen argued.

"It shows you that the Communist Party remains in power ultimately through brute force," he said.

Defense attorney David Rothman asked jurors to remain focused on the facts of the case and on the charge against Mederos -- that he lied to obtain U.S. citizenship.

Rothman said Mederos was not a member of the Communist Party and did not single out prisoners for electroshock treatments. Rothman did not dispute such electroshock treatments were given under terrible conditions. Former prisoners testified the sessions took place on a floor covered with urine and feces and that they received no medication.

Mederos says, however, he was following doctor's orders.

"Everyone in Cuba was under somebody," Rothman said. "That doesn't make them a communist."

Tamen said Mederos was in charge in the prison wards and was acting by himself. He also said the prisoners did not receive the sessions for mental problems.

"There was no electroconvulsive therapy being applied to the victims who testified here," he said. "There was torture and abuse."

Mederos worked at Mazorra since the 1940s, but the alleged torture took place during the 1960s and 1970s. Mederos eventually joined his family in the United States in 1984. He was granted citizenship after published reports of the alleged torture came out and after he was interviewed by the FBI.

Rothman said Mederos had attempted to leave Cuba as early as 1960. He also pointed out inconsistencies in the statements made by witnesses over the years and what they said during the trial.

Mederos faces up to 10 years in prison and deportation if convicted.

Madeline BarM-s Diaz can be reached at mbaro@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5007.